To report a serious incident to DEM, as required by Section 85(2) of the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000, licensees should contact the serious incident reporting hotline on: (08) 8463 6666. For more information please visit the Compliance and Monitoring webpage | DEM-ERD has just released the first “Basin in a Box” data-package covering the Simpson and Pedirka Basins. The dataset is available via the “Data and Publications” page. Each package is a consolidated set of seismic and well data to facilitate new ventures and exploration assessments of frontier basins in South Australia. Data releases for other frontier basins will follow.

Applications

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Types of licences

Exploration Licence (PEL, GEL or GSEL)A petroleum, geothermal or gas storage exploration licence (PEL, GEL or GSEL) authorises the licensee to carry out in the licence area exploratory operations for regulated resources, and operations to establish the nature and extent of a discovery and the feasibility of production.

Retention Licence (PRL, GRL or GSRL)A petroleum, geothermal or gas storage retention licence (PRL, GRL or GSRL) provides an exploration licensee with security of title over currently non-commercial discoveries for a reasonable period of time until they become commercial.

Production Licence (PPL, GPL or GSL)When a discovery is made that warrants production in an area of an exploration or retention licence, the licensee is entitled to a petroleum production, geothermal production or gas storage licence (PPL, GPL or GSL) respectively over the discovery area.

Pipeline Licence (PL)The Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000 provides for the granting of pipeline licences (PLs) for the purpose of constructing and operating a transmission pipeline for carrying petroleum or another regulated substance (as defined in the Act). A PL can be held for a term of 21 years with rights of renewal.

Preliminary and Speculative Survey Licences (PSL and SSL)A preliminary survey licence (PSL) authorises the licensee to carry out a survey, environmental evaluation or other form of assessment preparatory to the carrying out of regulated activities on land, for example for the purpose of surveying the proposed route of an onshore transmission pipeline prior to applying for a PL. A speculative survey licence (SSL) authorises the licensee to carry out exploratory operations of the kind specified in the licence.

Associated Activities Licence (AAL)An associated activities licence (AAL) authorises the licensee to conduct associated activities or operate associated facilities on land outside the area of the primary licence. An associated activity or facility is anything that is reasonably necessary for, or incidental to, carrying on regulated activities in the area of, or the vicinity of, the primary licence area.

Special Facilities Licence (SFL)A special facilities licence (SFL) authorises the licensee to establish and operate facilities for the purposes involving or associated with:

searching for any regulated substance, or

processing any regulated substance, or

producing or generating energy from a source of geothermal energy, or

other activities that may be relevant or incidental to searching for any regulated substance or processing, producing or storing any regulated substance or a product derived from a regulated substance.

Licence Information

An application for an Exploration Licence can be lodged at any time over any area of the state which is not in a Competitive Tender Region. Applications for areas falling within Competitive Tender Regions require the Minister to call for tenders specifying a specific closing date and time.

More than one Exploration Licence or Production Licence can be granted over the same area provided the rights to explore for a particular regulated resource for each licence differs.

Some areas are alienated from exploration and subsequent production operations (e.g. some protected areas under theNational Parks and Wildlife Act 1972).

Vacant Offshore areas in offshore waters abutting this are open to permit application only after gazettal by the Federal Government and/or State Government as appropriate. An application should be made in accordance with legislative requirements and be accompanied by the prescribed fee.

An application can be made by an individual or a company or a combination of individuals or companies. Where a foreign company makes application for, and is granted a licence under the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000, such company may be subject to the requirements of the Corporations Act 2001.

All applications are regarded as confidential, however certain information of an application (other than details of the financial and technical abilities of the applicant or any interpretive data) may be made public.

Competing applications in response to a call for bids by the Minister are assessed having regard to the most effective proposed work program providing the financial and technical abilities of the applicants are satisfactory.

How to Apply

The following excerpts from the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Regulations 2013 set out the specific requirements which must be addressed in any application for an exploration licence under the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000:

Part 2 - Licence Applications

4 - General Requirements

An application for a licence, or for the renewal of a licence, under the Act:—

(a)

must be addressed to the Minister1; and

(b)

must be signed or executed by the applicant; and

(c)

must include, or be accompanied by, the following information or material (in addition to the material required by the Act):

(i)

the full name, business address and telephone number of the applicant;

(ii)

the name and telephone number of a person who can be contacted about the application;

(iii)

a description of the area or route to which the application relates, using co-ordinates in a form determined or approved by the Minister and, if available, cadastral boundaries2;

(iv)

in the case of an application for a licence —a map indicating the area or route to which the application relates and, in the case of an application for a pipeline licence, indicating significant topographical, environmental and cultural features;

(v)

information on the size of the area or length of the route to which the application relates, expressed in square kilometres or kilometres (as appropriate);

(vi)

in the case of an application for a licence;—

(A)

in the case of an incorporated body —a copy of the body's most recent audited annual financial statements;

(B)

in any other case —statements that demonstrate the expected financial position of the applicant over the anticipated term of the licence (or a shorter term determined by the Minister);

(vii)

in the case of an application for a licence —a statement of the technical qualifications and experience of the applicant;

(viii)

in the case of an application for a licence —if the application is being made by more than one person —information on the interest that each person will have in the licence (which may be expressed as a percentage).

6 —Exploration licences

An application for an exploration licence, or for the renewal of an exploration licence, must also include, or be accompanied by, the following information or material:

(a)

the proposed work program3 and information as to the approximate cost of operations to be carried out under the program in each year of the licence; and

(b)

a technical report that assesses the prospectivity of the area and how the proposed work program relates to this prospectivity; and

(c)

if applications have been invited by public advertisement —a statement that addresses the stated criteria.

All coordinate descriptions are to be expressed in degrees of longitude and latitude, GDA 2020.

3.

An exploration licence is granted for a term of five years (including rights of renewal pursuant to provisions under the Act), and any proposed work program should as a minimum include the drilling of one well targeting the regulated resource for which the exploration licence relates.

Overlapping Exploration Licence Applications

Section 65(1a) of the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000 provides that person(s) or enterprise(s) may lodge an over-the-counter application for an exploration licence which overlaps an area of an existing exploration licence application. In such circumstances, the earlier application will rank ahead of any later overlapping application(s), and the Department would usually seek to have the first ranked applicant expedite steps enabling the grant of the licence as a precedent to the offer of a licence. Where a first ranked applicant does not make bona fide efforts to progress their application in a timely manner, the first ranked application may be refused, and the second ranked application would assume primacy. This will not jeopardise first ranked or successive applications associated with 'good faith' efforts to conclude Native Title land access agreements.

Note: Where an application is refused, the unsuccessful applicant may request the Minister to call for tenders for the relevant area.